(sic)

Nobody's discrediting the effort itself, just the conclusions and the way he reaches those conclusions. Again, some of his findings might be correct, but from what I've seen, most of them simply aren't. When he tells people that there isn't any significant difference between BPDs and WCBs, and then shows how he came to that conclusion, a lot of people would tend to believe it, even though it simply isn't true at all. Like he said in the video "After every match, I went into the match report and recorded the statistics that I THINK are relevant in assessing the performance of the WCB" So it's all based on what he thinks is relevant, meaning there's a lot of room for mistakes (especially if he doesn't select the right things to look out for). Especially because you would need to simulate a few hundred matches for each tactic, and not just a few dozen in total. Also, just by looking at the numbers like blocks/interceptions, etc. you can't get a full picture of how the role plays. There are so many variables not accounted for, like the tactic and the roles around the WCB (including midfield roles, wingback roles), team and player instructions, mentality, duties. Then we also have opposition formations, opposition roles, duties and instructions. All of that is missing, and all of those are variables that will make the WCB (or any other role) play slightly different. Though you don't even have to do all of that, you can just load up the match and watch it. WCBs, especially on Support and Attack will make attacking runs, they will overlap and underlap, just like the description says, while the BPDs won't really do that (not unless you have the right attributes, traits, tactics, etc. set up, but even then, they wouldn't do it as often as WCB). Similarly, with the Carrilero analysis, he came to the conclusion that CM-S and Carrilero aren't really different... by testing the role in a 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, and 4-4-2 formations. What about the formations in which the role should actually be used, like 5-3-2, 4-4-2 diamond, and other formations without wingers? You know, the formations for which the Carrilero role is primarily designed for. It's the same thing with this now, he just looks at the wrong things and doesn't understand what the instructions are for, and comes to wrong conclusions at the end.

This does make sense, but where did you get that info from?

+1. While they do hold the width better this year, especially if you train "hugs the line" trait, they're just missing something. They often get in the way of the Mezzala, especially if they're both on support duty. So I do prefer Wingers to IWs in that sense. Wingers with with their stronger foot on the opposite side of where they're playing on, and with cuts inside trait work much better imo. They hold their width, they do cut in sometimes (honestly I found them cutting in with the ball more than the IWs do, which is definitely weird, maybe the actual trait works better than the PI), but they also do run to the byline and cross (not from the wide areas, but instead on the edge of the box), instead of just turning around and looking for options (though it helps to have a player who's comfortable with both feet). Though it all depends on what you want from the player/role. If I want the wide player to actually operate in half-spaces, and be a more creative type, I'd often pick IW-S and tell him to sit narrow, Roam from position, etc. CM-A does often seem to play as a second striker, especially in the buildup, so you get something like a 4-2-4, if you play a 4-3-3 formation. Support duties can be too conservative, and too deep. I'd just mess around with mentality settings. AP-A would also work, as he doesn't really play like a CM-A. He will go forward often, but he'll also drop back when needed in the buildup. I used a formation with no attacking duties and an Attacking mentality. So the midfielders who were on support were more willing to go forward, but they would also sometimes help in the buildup. Also I found that the more attacking mentalities are better in the buildup, as they don't look to kick it long as often, for no reason. Player traits like "Tries to play way out of trouble" are great for this as well. and if you train this trait to your back 5 (back 4 + DM), it works wonderfully. Though you obviously need players with good attributes to do this (Anticipation, Composure, Concentration, Decisions, Vision, Agility, Balance, First Touch, Passing, Technique, Dribbling, Acceleration) - are all important to have imo).

Makes sense, it definitely looks like it was made by someone who's got understanding of modern graphics/UI design It looks clean, I like it. The only issue that may exist when trying to actually create a working version of this, is the sidebar actually being at the bottom. IIRC someone has made it work somewhat, but it's not that easy.

Sure thing. It's at the bottom of the tactics icon info panel overview I just replaced the <container id="gpIN" with this Use insets to position it however you want to, at least that's the only way I could make it work. graphics/icons/custom/footed The code for it is above.

All credits to Wozzie, as it was his idea and code. I just used a different icon, and repositioned it to fit inside the role container. Never knew I needed this before I saw it in Tato23 skin, it makes things a bit easier when creating tactics.

Inspired by @Wozzie's Tato skin (great work yet again, one of my favorite skins definitely). I've added the left/right foot strength indicators on the tactics panel. Still wasn't happy with the player profile, so I changed the main bit with the picture and stuff, yet again. I have 2 empty boxes/spaces to the left and right of player value, right now I have no idea what to add there. Suggestions are welcome.

I can confirm that it happens even without using WBITB. Some things just don't make sense. Certain roles have instructions that you cannot select, for whatever reasons. Also certain roles are just hardcoded to behave in a certain way. It is a ME issue probably, but I'd also guess that players that have a higher Teamwork attribute would be more willing to cross the ball, rather than shoot.

The ball over the top issue is definitely real, and defenders definitely don't react to them well in general. It's currently an issue with the ME itself. Whether the TIs have anything to do with that, we don't really know. Only the SI do.

Sure thing. I've uploaded the file (Red Star.fm). The year where I really noticed it was season 26/27, as I had 8 players out on int duty (for Serbia mainly). I can confirm it also happened in previous season as well, which 25/26 and in 23/24 as well. Haven't really played further than that, but I'm sure it would be the case in the future as well.

I found he does this a lot, where he gathers some completely irrelevant data, and then concludes that something doesn't work. Example: He concluded WCBs and BPDs aren't different at all, and that they do the same thing, and perform the same, based on certain stats per 90 or w/e metrics he deemed to be relevant. I think it was a similar thing with some CM roles as well. If he had just watched games, he would've noticed a difference in movement, positioning, etc. So I'd just take most of the stuff from that guy with a pinch of salt, as it is often incorrect info.

This is exactly what I've observed so far. I wanted to play a possession oriented 4-3-3. I always used positive/attacking in FM22, but decided to use Balanced this time, just to see how it works. Basically, my defenders were hoofing the ball up the field way too often for my liking. After switching to the Attacking mentality, they were actually more willing to pass around and circulate the ball. Which is what I originally wanted. Great. But on the other hand, I have to use the Support duty on my AML and AMR if I want them to track back in defense. If they're left on the Attack duty, they would just position themselves far too forward in defense. On Balanced mentality, they would be more willing to track back. Essentially, I ended up playing with everyone on Support, besides my 2 Central Defenders. And it works really well when it comes to keeping the ball, and even getting the results. So more risk doesn't necessarily mean more long balls. I found it's the opposite. Playing out the back and playing shorter passes out of defence is quite risky, especially when under pressure. So if you wanted to play like that, but on Cautious mentality, your players just wouldn't risk it, and would hoof the ball forward. Imo mentalities are still poorly designed, and they just shouldn't affect everything about your tactics.

Been seeing the same issue appear as well, it's been widely reported, but here's another .pkm Goalkeepers are doing it as well. Sheffield United v Burnley 3rd goal.pkm

Agreed. At this point a lot of it is simply outdated, and pretty much what we've had for almost 20 years. Probably will be, considering it's been the same for the past 15-20 years

Yeah, it appears that it's good for underdog clubs, but not so good for favorites.

There is a way to remove it, but it's so badly done. You have to click through a lot of things in order to do it.

Last year it was an issue both off the ball and on the ball as far as I am aware, it was fixed in later updates. This year, off-the ball movement is fine, I don't have any issues with that. Like I've said, when a player enters the final third, there's a 90% chance he'll just run wide with the ball instead of cutting in (which means running inside with the ball, preferably dribbling past players). Players did this a few versions ago just fine, though you could argue it wasn't totally realistic either, because they could just cut in and dribble past everyone to score. I hoped that was the case, thank you for confirming it. It would've been incredibly unrealistic to solely focus on numbers/stats alone without looking at the bigger picture, so I'm glad to be told that's not the case. When it comes to defensive actions, they also didn't make much sense to me. Most of them are always happening in my own half, mostly in my own defensive third. It doesn't matter if I play a high press, or a low block, it's always the case. So it makes sense that OPPDA is connected to this. The issue I have with that, is that it's hard to compare certain things to real life, to see if you're doing something correctly. It's also harder to analyze stuff in-game, because how do I know if my high-press is working correctly or not, when most of my defensive actions are always going to happen in my own defensive third? fbref for example separates tackles in defensive, mid, and final third - so you can easily see which teams play a higher press, and which teams like to defend deeper.

And here you're accusing people of not knowing how to play the game, when in fact those issues have been widely reported, and you could see them for yourself, as they've been posted around on the bug tracker, the forums, reddit, whole internet. I'm not sure why you're trying so hard to defend it.

It's not the matter of picking the wrong tactics, it's the matter of player behavior. What do you consider as "cutting inside"? I've also seen players cut-in occasionally, mostly around the middle of the pitch when they have plenty of space to run into. The issue with cutting in is actually players not willing to dribble inside the pitch, while taking on players at the same time. They're just afraid of opposition players, they're just running around into space with the ball, and I wouldn't call that "dribbling" or "cutting in". Especially considering that space is often just in wide areas, so they're mostly running wide to the byline.

Now I'm obviously not as knowledgeable as you when it comes to ME, but wouldn't it be better to actually create something that looks like a real football match. What I mean is, the movement, positioning, decisions, etc. Then after that, focus on getting the numbers to match up to real life? I feel like the ME is too focused on producing realistic numbers, but in turn, the way the game plays out feels lackluster. Imo there's often a lack of variety, especially when you see certain patterns play over and over again, multiple times per match, in every single match. For example, what I often noticed is the IWs/IFs not willing to dribble inside when in the final third, because there's no space inside. Instead, they find the space out wide, so they constantly run wide with the ball, to the byline (even though their "Cut inside" PI/traits should tell them to do the opposite in most cases). Then there's defenders not reacting to balls over the top, or straight out running in random directions, away from the ball. Pressing is not working correctly a lot of the time. I'd say these should be prioritized over having realistic numbers. Oh and the numbers often aren't realistic, or just aren't calculated in the right way. (OPPDA - passes per defensive action, are usually around 8-10 for the best pressing sides in real life, but in FM every single team sits on 3-5)

It's amazing honestly. These sorts of mistakes just aren't realistic though. And when you see a certain pattern play out each game, it really becomes annoying. Players often do this when there's a ball over the top as well.

Do people realize this video is from the last year, and 2 game versions ago (FM21)?

I don't want that either, but having your defensive line just stand in place, or even worse, run in the wrong direction, while the ball goes through them is insane. Not to mention IWs/IFs who are afraid to dribble inside, and instead just run to the byline and then look to cross/pass the ball with their stronger foot - a pattern that keeps repeating, and is honestly annoying seeing the exact same thing play out each time. Edit: And these things have been reported numerous times, with examples in the bug tracker.

So not only did they not update/fix the ME, but they also failed to fix known bugs outside of the ME.... I'm just lost for words. I have no intent to use the Squad Planner as long as it is bugged. It just keeps resetting constantly, that any changes I make are pointless.